I own nothing. Enjoy… I love a good review. Or even a halfway decent shout out.
It was two days before Thanksgiving, she was short a third of the groceries she needed to make food, and Kate was absolutely sure she shouldn't be thinking about any of this right now. As she tried to push away thoughts of cranberry sauce and the stuffing she could really go for, she hurried up the stairwell directly behind her husband. She started scanning the area, glancing down the stairs to see it appeared empty. By now, security should have sealed off of both stair wells.
"Ready?" he asked quietly as he gained the landing.
Kate gained the last step, noticing again that these stairs seemed steeper, a little higher than a normal set. She nodded as she caught her breath for a moment.
Gibbs pulled open the door, glancing around quickly, gun ready though not pointed straight ahead. He nodded the all clear and they stepped through together. "We're clearing it together," he said quietly, flashing his badge at the concerned nurses peeking from around the corner of their desk and waving them back.
"Right behind you," she assured, slipping fully into agent mode as they began methodically going through each room. They slipped in quietly, thankful that most rooms were empty and the few occupied had mostly sleeping patients.
Four doors down, the closet was next, and they cleared it quickly since it wasn't much more than cleaning supplies. It made Kate's nose wrinkle at the strong combination of scents, many that did not mix well. She swallowed hard and pushed it aside, wondering fleetingly how much longer until the FBI or their team arrived.
NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS* NCIS
"Where is Agent Fornell," Tony demanded as he pushed his way up to the agents doing a very bad job of trying to look inconspicuous at the west entrance to the hospital. He turned slightly to create a space for Ziva to slip through and join him.
"You need to move on, sir," came the dismissal from the agent at the door.
"I need to know where Agent Fornell is," the senior field agent corrected. He dug out his badge. "And you want me to know where Agent Fornell is because otherwise you're going to have deal with my very pissed off boss. This one started out ours."
The agent gave him a one over, and nodded inside. "Near the front entrance, but good luck."
"C'mon," Tony called to Ziva, shouldering his way through and deciding to risk the maze of halls inside. A quick text to the Probie and they were making their way to the front.
An agent stopped them just shy of their goal, and Tony almost smiled when he heard Ziva's stuff growl of irritation beside him.
"Sir, you need to exit. This area is restricted, please return to your designated waiting area," came the warning, hand raising as though it could stop them.
Tony rolled his eyes and pulled out his badge again. This was getting old and fast. "Call Gibbs," he directed to Ziva before stepping between her and the FBI agent. "Special Agent DiNozzo, this is Officer David. We're looking for Special Agent Gibbs and Agent Fornell. Now."
The man's head shook and he smirked. "Fornell's busy, and I don't know your Special whoever."
"Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, head of the Major Case Response Team, NCIS," Tony spat back. "And I don't care what your instructions are. This was ours first. Fornell. Now."
Dark eyes narrowed at him, and for a minute Tony wasn't sure if they were going to brawl it out here or not. Part of him hoped the agent would bring it. The guy was about average size, and it looked to be a decent match up. Worst case, Ziva would bail him out, and they were already in a hospital… but he didn't really have the time for it.
Putting his hand on Ziva's shoulder, he urged her forward as he turned sideways and made a way for them, parting the agents busy talking on their phones.
"Take a left down the hall, but he's not gonna talk to you," the agent called to them, and Tony only barely held enough restraint to throw back some sign language DiNozzo style. Abby had once argued that flipping the bird didn't count as sign language. She'd taught him some pretty colorful phrases, but he had been half-drunk at the time and couldn't remember most of it.
It took some pushing and more or less blowing off a couple of people but once they reached the conference room, everyone more or less assumed they were supposed to be there and left them alone. He pushed the door open without preamble. "Fornell," he called.
The Fed gave him a slight nod to come further inside. "Brought all of Team Gibbs," he clipped, gaze sweeping over the pair behind him—Ziva and McGee, who finally caught up with them.
"Yeah, where's the Boss?" he asked, glancing around the room again, as though it would make Gibbs magically appear, although with Gibbs anything was possible.
Fornell shrugged. "Figured he was with you and you'd all barge in when you were ready."
"Ziva?" he called, not bothering to look in her direction as he eyed Fornell.
"Straight to voicemail," came her short reply. "So much for never being unreachable." He caught something else in Hebrew, muttered half under her breath, and he was again thankful not to know the language. "Call Kate—"
"Ah, can't reach her either," McGee supplied, holding up his phone as though that gave Tony all the answer he needed. "Hers went to voicemail, too, and she hasn't answered the text… you know, in case she's in the room and they're not supposed to have it on—"
Tony glared at their youngest agent, who had the sense to stop talking. "We're going up the room. When was last contact?" He was already heading for the door, a fast walk that was about to become a serious game of dodge-the-feds and a run up the stairs. God, he hated running the stairs almost as much as Gibbs hated going down them.
"Take the west set. Everything else is locked down, emergency personnel only."
With a rough curse, he flung open the door and started the marathon upward.
NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS
He was banging hard on the door, thoroughly pissed by their entire situation. The gravity of it was quickly coming into focus. "Hey! HEY!" he shouted, palm slamming on the unyielding and very solid door yet again before he steeled himself to shoulder it.
"Woah, Stop!" Kate exclaimed, catching his arm and his attention enough to draw him away from a decision he grudgingly admitted that he would have regretted later. She handed over small section of pipe, which he stared at stupid for a full ten seconds before he realized that it was better to use that than to keep banging on a steel door with his own hand. "You're gonna breath something doing that. And then whose hand am I gonna squeeze?"
Shaking his head and turning as he leaned against the door, he gave one loud rap to the portal and dropped the pipe. "Door's out. If anyone was there, they would have heard us by now."
"I know," she agreed, voice going quieter and more serious as she shivered.
He felt the biting wind himself now, and he felt like a bastard. It wasn't snowing, which was a mile relief. The last thing either of them needed was to be cold and wet. He stripped off his sports coat and wrapped it around her.
"You need it, too," she protested, but he held it tightly around her with a firm headshake. "It's maybe a few degrees over freezing. Don't fight me on this, we have better things to do." He pulled her close, tucking her under his arm and offering some core body heat as he began to assess their situation.
They were ten stories off the ground, and on the side of the building. Later he would be angry with himself for letting Kate flank him up here and for following whoever that was out the door in the first place. They had been clearing the rooms and were turning a corner when someone had bolted into the stairwell and out to the roof. Acting on instinct, they had launched into pursuit, which had ended when their guy had launched himself through the door and locked it behind him.
Above them, and on the opposite corner of the hospital, he could see the helo pad. LifeFlight wasn't seeing action right now, and he knew it could be hours, if it happened at all. Not an option. He'd lost his phone in the chase, when their guy had pushed over a pile of pallets, catching him unawares and making him stumble just enough to land on his side and render his phone useless. In anger, he'd slammed the useless pile of circuits and plastic against the wall. Kate's battery was nearly drained, and she didn't have reception.
Okay, the stupid choices hadn't gotten him far. Time to get a plan. "C'mon, and keep your eyes open." He moved them toward a lower structure, which he was hoping was some kind of electrical room. Peering closer, he slapped at the door.
"I think I have a bobby pin," Kate offered, reaching for her hair.
He caught her hand, wincing at how cold her fingers were, even with his jacket sleeve half-covering them. Right now, he would give anything to have coats, something warm for them to drink… or a key. At least she wore her boot today. "No good." He pointed at the little metal dot just to the side of the key hole. It was the kind of lock that needed an electronic key thing.
She swallowed and tried to keep that strong face going, but he could see the struggle.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something else, too. Pulling her gently with him, arm slipping around her again, he led her toward the far structure, tucked up by the building. His hand quickly felt at the metal outside, almost sighing in relief. "Get in here, right by me," he urged, pulling her closer so that she was against the building and him.
"Thank God," she murmured, jaw tensing and taking a few slow breaths to calm herself down as she relaxed for a few moments between the warm spot and him. He wasn't really sure what it was, but right now he didn't care. Heat was heat, and they wouldn't be okay for long without it.